Thank you, Jane. | From one metalsmith to another….

29 Jul Thank you, Jane. | From one metalsmith to another….

Hanging from the leather strap around my anvil stump is a simple planishing hammer.

It’s one of many, many hammers in my studio. But, this one is in my top five. It would be difficult for me to pick a single favorite hammer, but I do know my top five. And this planishing hammer is lovingly known in the studio as “The Jane Hammer.”

Jane Miskie was a renaissance woman who mastered many creative media, metalsmithing among them. After her death, I purchased a variety of her tools from her daughter. I was struck by the fingerprints she left behind, as I sorted through the bits and used her tools in my own studio processes.

Jane left behind a few unfinished projects, and I offered to finish those pieces for her family. There was a super cool box with a reticulated lid that just needed a hinge, a hollow belt buckle with a cast fish jumping out that needed the buckle mechanisms, and a ring that needed a few stones set. When you come behind another metalsmith, whether it’s in the course of a repair or, in this case, to complete some almost-finished projects, you can tell a lot about that person, how they approach making, how they engage technical problems to find solutions. My goal in completing these pieces was to provide only technical support for her designs without inserting any of my own aesthetic preferences into her pieces.

I have lots of respect for Jane. Coming behind her has renewed my love for this work.

I never met her, but I do know her.